


The Pick Up Line

by innusiq



Category: Social Network (2010) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-25
Updated: 2012-02-25
Packaged: 2017-10-31 17:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/346801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/innusiq/pseuds/innusiq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU Where Jesse is just your typical, average office worker partaking in a departmental gathering at some local bar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pick Up Line

**Author's Note:**

> While I've coded this Jesse/Andrew, it is more a "Pre" Jesse/Andrew. This was originally written as a one off fic, but there is potential for more, bur for now it remains a stand alone.

Generally this is not his scene, loud thumping music with bodies pressed against one another in too enclosed space dancing, lots and lots of dancing. Yes, the dancing, and drinking, and socializing, and cheesy pickup lines are definitely so far out from his normal _scene_ that even his co-workers do a double take when he agrees to their politely offered invitation to come out for drinks. He doesn’t blame their shock, not really, seeing as nine out of ten invitations he turns down without even thinking over his options or blinking an eye. Nine times out of ten, after he clocks out for the day leaving spreadsheets and number crunching behind him, all Jesse wants to do is hop on his bike, pedal home to his small, open-space apartment and socialize with no one other than his furry, four-legged roommates whose only demands in life are to be fed, scratched and provided a clean space to _do their business_. Hands down, cats are definitely the route to go when seeking a roommate, Jesse thinks. Then there is that one time when he throws caution to the wind and agrees to go along, where he not only surprises his co-workers but himself as well because really, once they arrive at the regular _out of the way_ bar, he regrets agreeing to tag along and takes up residence at the bar while everyone else takes to the dance floor and lets loose their hair and the week's stress.

After a few rounds, even Maggie, who is almost as introverted as Jesse, makes her way out onto the dance floor with their more confident friends, hardly looking like the mouse she is when the company's president asks her for some mundane file or report she's worked on. Her shoulder length brown hair is a mess from whipping her head back and forth to the music, and while she is tastefully dressed in a knee-length black skirt, and short-sleeved, lavender button up shirt, she is still attracting the attention of more than one man in her close proximity. He envies her in that moment, being able to let go and push past the boundaries she has set for herself. When he catches her smile and laugh at something one man says to her, he feels a moment of panic, not wanting to see his friend be taken advantage of, but Sarah, the blonde who you either wanted to be or wanted to be with, takes hold of Maggie's arm and pulls her a bit away, and Jesse is a little surprised yet thankful to see he isn't the only one watching out for her.

The bartender delivers his second drink with a smirk, probably due to the fact it isn't so much a _drink_ of the alcohol kind but rather the _soda_ kind, but he doesn't really care about the preconceived social necessity of consuming alcohol just because he is out at a bar. Not that he is a prude or against a social drink or two, but it isn't necessary for him to have alcohol in order to have a good time. Combine that with the fact he will need to navigate his bike home without killing himself in the process, needing to be responsible is more important than getting a buzz right now. He has four mouths at home that rely on him for their survival after all, so he nods a thank you to the bartender, receiving another smirk and shake of the head, but he shrugs his shoulder, not giving into the _peer pressure_ , or whatever it would be called now that he is an adult. 

Eyes back out on the dance floor, Jesse is just about to take a sip of his second Coke when he's interrupted.

"Is this seat taken?"

Jesse jerks his head to his other side, away from his view of the dance floor, and is instantly grateful he didn't have a chance to take a drink because he's fairly certain the man standing to his right would be wearing it, as well as it would be dribbling down his chin, and really, how uncool and embarrassing would that be, not to mention the number of therapy sessions it would take to get over such a horrible public display? It takes him a moment to clear his thoughts, swallow the lump in his throat, and formulate some sort of response.

"Ex-Excuse me?" Jesse asks, mentally hitting himself for the less than stellar response, and then looking to his other side, thinking maybe this man really isn't talking to him but someone else, because there is no way someone that good looking is actually wasting time talking to him.

The man – tall, dark wild hair, wide honest eyes nearly matching the man's hair color, and a dreamy-not-completely-British accent – yeah, this guy definitely must be talking to someone else, or hey, maybe he is just asking if the seat is available for use, yes, that makes so much more sense than what Jesse might, secretly, want to hope for, not that he's hoping for anything, not really.

The man gestures to the empty chair next to Jesse again, eyes widening and brow raising with the gesture, smiling before he repeats the question.

"This seat, is it taken?"

Jesse is distracted a moment, taking in the guy's clothing, each article far more trendy than anything Jesse owns: black, tight-fitting jeans; white button down that looks soft to the touch, with the sleeves rolled up; a gray suit vest that with two out of the three buttons fastened. This is a man who could have anyone he wanted just by using a simple and clichéd pick-up-line, hell, with just a look if Jesse was being honest with himself. It's a shame the guy is wasting his time on Jesse. 

Looking at the empty bar stool dumbly, Jesse takes a moment to reorganize his thoughts, again his brain letting him down in the processing department, and then looks back up at the beautiful stranger. _Why is the universe against him?_

"Um…" Jesse begins, hands beginning to sweat, words failing him. "Well… Um… Yes, but what I mean…"

The man's smile gets even wider at his stammering and stumbling words, causing swallowing to be a bit difficult, but Jesse pushes on because there is only one way to get out of this situation, to make this man go away and leave him alone to wallow in his own self pity.

"You see… It's my friend… my friend Jane is sitting… you can't see her, not that you _can't_ see her, I mean… she's invisible, which really works out for both of us… me and Jane that is, seeing as otherwise she'd be embarrassed to be seen in public with me and I… I really don't like drinking alone so, you see… it's taken."

Jesse takes a hold of his glass, a glass that has a straw in it like a beacon for how non-alcoholic the drink really is, and offers the _empty_ chair a small smile and a _cheers_ gesture before taking a sip from the straw, hoping beyond hope that he has creeped this guy out enough that he just walks away, never to look back, but his life never works out the way he plans or thinks it should play out because apparently his weird sense of humor isn't enough deterrent for this man. _He must really want the stool_.

No, instead of fleeing in terror from the strange curly-haired-possible-serial-killer (it is always the strange, quiet ones talked about on the news), the guy laughs. He throws his head back and just laughs, enjoyably, and Jesse can't take his eyes off the man's bobbing adam's apple. Throat tight again. Once the other man's laugh settles, he looks back at Jesse and Jesse finds it hard to tear his eyes away from the happy crinkled ones looking back at him. 

"God, adorable and a sense of humor, definitely a pleasing combination."

 _God that accent_.

"And here I thought I had the corner on awkward and weird looking staked out in clear claim," Jesse returns with a shrug. "To each his own."

The guy's head cocks to the side, and looks Jesse over more than once, leaving Jesse feeling nervous and self conscience and awkward and basically on edge. His hands are not just sweaty now but shaking as well, the signs that a full fledged panic attack is soon to commence, if it hasn't already begun, but in that moment a decision seems to be made by this beautiful stranger. The guy's back straightens, not that he'd been slouching before, but it's a firm stance of determination that seems to flow through the guy's back and limbs. The guy turns his attention toward the empty bar stool next to Jesse and clears his throat before speaking.

"Excuse me, Jane? Yes, do you mind moving down a bit that I might speak to your friend here?"

The man pauses a moment, as if the _person_ he is speaking to is now responding, and then he smiles wide and pleased, and laughs.

"Thank you, I will be sure to tell him."

The guy slips back, apparently letting _Jane_ remove herself from the seat of honor (so to speak) and pretends to watch her leave. This strange and wonderful (yes, Jesse admits this guy is pretty wonderful if he hasn't scared him off yet) man takes the vacated seat and offers Jesse a smile.

Jesse stares back, not knowing what to think, or do, other than thinking _I must be dreaming if I think this guy is trying to hit on me_ , and believing there must be some secret camera somewhere recording the humiliation that is soon to follow when it is exposed that he is on some hidden camera show or something. 

_Breathe, Jesse. Breathe._

"Jane's going to the dance floor now," the guy explains seriously. "She says I should keep you company in her absence. The name's Andrew, by the way."

 _Andrew_ extends his hand and waits for Jesse to reciprocate, but all Jesse can do is stare at the offered hand, and blink, and stare, and blink, and bite his lip, and then run his fingers over the texture of his corduroy slacks. _This can not be happening_ , he thinks, and bless this man's patience, because it is a very short list of people who understand him enough to give him the time needed to work out his thoughts and the appropriate actions required in such social environments. It's not that he doesn't like being social, but more he only likes being social with the people he knows. Complete strangers, the unknown, yeah, it took him over a year at his current employment before he would actively initiate a conversation, so yeah, he definitely has a few issues.

Jesse snaps out of it suddenly, knowing he really needs to get out of this, out of here, quickly and painlessly. He needs to let this guy off the hook for making a poor judgment call, before Andrew regrets the decision made to come over and talk to Jesse.

"Listen, obviously you're a great… I mean nice guy and all, and I appreciate you taking pity on the lonely guy at the bar, but… I mean… I have to… I really should… just go, because it's loud here, and I really shouldn't have…" Jesse trails his words off before he says anything more that might embarrass him, and slips off his bar stool, throwing more than enough money on the bar to cover his two Cokes. "Yeah, I'm leaving..."

Jesse turns and makes his way through the bar crowd hastily, _excuse me_ and apologies all along the way. The bar must be reaching capacity by now, there being even less room to simply breathe in than when they originally arrived. When he finally reaches the door and exits, he pauses a moment, to gulp down the air that obviously the bar was lacking and then shakes whatever still has a hold of him. He thinks absently that his therapist is going to have a field day with this one next week – and maybe offer Jesse and extra card or two to hand out as a referral should he come across anyone else who likes talking to Jesse's invisible friends.

Jesse groans and mutters to himself. "Seriously? Invisible friends?"

Sighing, Jesse turns and begins his walk back to the office to pick up his bike. The after work street traffic has died down a bit, no longer the bumper to bumper parking lot of rush hour, but now just the normal evening traffic that while not death defying, it is still a struggle to navigate through and should only be attempted by the most experienced of city bikers. Jesse makes it to the corner, the _do not walk_ indicator blinking his direction and he stops, waiting with his hands shoved in his pockets, thinking that sometimes life isn't fair, and then when it is being maybe a little bit fair, it ends up mocking him.

The crossing indicator switches to _walk_ , but just as he takes a step forward, a hand reaches out to catch his elbow, causing him to jerk back and away, startled. This is New York after all, and nighttime and, well, his life. It would be just his luck to get mugged as well.

"Woah, hey, sorry, I didn't mean…" Andrew says, hands raised in an _easy does it_ gesture, smile sheepish and completely opposite of the brave front displayed in the bar moments ago. "I didn't mean to scare you or anything, but I thought, I mean it was loud in there and maybe… maybe you'd like to catch a cup of coffee?"

Jesse looks to either side of him, expecting Andrew to still be talking to anyone else but him, but seeing as it is just him standing there, well, then obviously Andrew is talking to him, but… 

"Why?"

Andrew scratches at the back of his head, messing up the mop of hair even more than it already is, and then proceeds to bite at the side of his right index finger, Jesse assumes taking a moment to formulate a response.

"Well… you seem interesting enough, I just thought we could, you know, go somewhere and talk… somewhere we can actually hear one another…"

"You are aware there are a million other more interesting people back at the bar…"

"999,9999."

Jesse shakes his head, eyes squinting in confusion. "Excuse me?"

Andrew takes a step towards Jesse, and miraculously Jesse maintains his ground.

"There were a million interesting people back at the bar," Andrew explains. "Now there are just 999,9999. So, do you think… coffee?"

And now he feels his cheeks heat up, thankful that it is dark out and his reaction to Andrew's words is hidden in the evening shadows. 

"Seriously?"

Andrew's smile is what Jesse would describe as fond, maybe even possibly endearing, and that alone has him caving to agree to a cup of coffee against his better judgment, especially when Andrew nods earnestly and says, "Yes, seriously."

Jesse bites his lip again, fingers nervously playing with the ends of his untucked shirt, there is no denying they are shaking as well, but he figures at this point, what does he really have to lose? 

"Sure… I mean yeah, a cup of coffee would be nice," Jesse finally agrees, Andrew smiling and nodding along almost thankfully. "My name's Jesse by the way."

Jesse sticks out his hand this time, and Andrew readily accepts it, giving it a firm shake with two hands. "It's nice to meet you, Jesse."

The accent alone is enough to make Jesse's heart flutter with excitement, but the quasi-British accent saying his name is a little breathtaking and swoon worthy. 

"Shall we?" Andrew asks, gesturing towards the next block where a local coffee shop is located, one the girls at the office frequent every morning, always bringing him a muffin or scone or whatever they deem he _needs to try because it is just so good!_

Jesse gives Andrew a smile and they both turn at the same time to head in the direction of the coffee shop. They walk in silence, the only sound being the rushing nighttime traffic and milling of city residence making their way to and from wherever they are leaving and heading toward. The silence is a nice reprieve from having to actually carry a conversation, but on the other hand it gives Jesse far too much time to think about how bad of an idea this is because on a whole, things like this never work out for him. Never, but it doesn't mean he shouldn't maybe enjoy the moment when heads turn as they walk into the coffee shop, a few women taking more than an appreciative glance Andrew's way, because seriously, the guy is that good looking, but knowing this man is here with him, helps Jesse to walk a little taller under their scrutiny.

Yes, the morning is probably going to be one huge, depression filled wake up call for Jesse when he realizes he fell for the cheapest and most clichéd pick up line ever, but for now at least, he will enjoy the moment, enjoy being in the company of this beautiful stranger named Andrew, until reality settles in and forces him to go back to living in the real world once again.


End file.
